Court fines companies €8,000 for workplace safety violations

Larnaca district court on Thursday handed down fines to two companies, having found them guilty of violating workplace safety rules relating to the same incident that led to the electrocution of a company employee.

The court fined the companies HM Installations Ltd and Ch. Giannaki Trading Ltd with €8,000 each.

Evidence for the case was brought by the Labour Inspection Department.

HM Installations Ltd engages in replacing banners on billboards. According to the charge sheet, the company had failed to take proper care to place the boom lift at a safe distance from overhead power lines. As a result, the boom lift came into contact with the power cables, and the company employee inside the lift’s work cage got electrocuted.

The second company, Ch. Giannaki Trading Ltd, had provided the boom lift for the work in question. It had been charged with failing to provide the necessary information and instructions to the operator of the lift.